All Forum Posts by: John Coulter

That hairline crack is not (yet) a structural problem and is not uncommon to see within the first couple years. And your builder may be right, that most of the water entered through the window... you should be able to tell where the water line is. Once again, if you had proper surface drainage, you wouldn't have water coming in the crack or pooling in the window well. You can seal it up, but it's still a very small bandaid. From what I remember, Utah residential code does not require foundation drainage and therefore, no window well drains (where would it go?). It does however require specific grading (2% over 10 ft extending away from the house). Which if not possible (your side yard), should require physical drainage (french drain, surface drain, etc). Call your city's building department and they can verify this- you may need to talk to a building inspector. 

As for the studs/ framing- it def looks scabby but they aren't structural and I'm guessing the demo team cut 1 or 2 out to see that crack. Easy enough to put it back together.

Unless that waterline in the window well is above the bottom of the window (which it actually looks like it is), it's really hard to say where's it's coming in without tearing out drywall. The only penetration from the window well would be where it's bolted to the foundation and that hole wouldn't go all the way through. Sounds backwards but I wouldn't worry as much about where it's getting in as I would be about how much standing water you have in close proximity to the window. It's not going to damage the foundation per se but my priority would be to install some drainage. The approx. 4 ft between your house & the fenceline (because of the window wells) isn't really enough distance even with proper grade, to get that water away from your house. 

Also, dry everything out in the basement but I wouldn't make any repairs until you get this sorted out... and depending on the extent of the damage, don't let the restoration company do the repairs without getting some other bids. They're usually the most expensive. As far as the builders responsibility- that's up for debate. The fact that you have neighbors water draining into your yard, with nowhere to go, is an oversight on developer/ builder and the way those lots were graded before any houses were built.

Sheesh, that's a full on pool party. Guessing it's the same builder/ developer for all those homes? Even though it's out of warranty, it's a problem that's persisted before that expired so I'd still try to get the builder to step up. Probably not going to help you in the short term though. The unfortunate thing is they also diverted your neighbor's drainage to your backyard, with nowhere to go. From the videos, I cant tell what the side yards look like (how much space you have for drain pipe to pass) or how far it is to the street. Probably stating the obvious here but your going to continue to have this problem until you install some drainage that directs all that water from the downspouts and any residual surface water, to the street (pop up drainage emitter near the sidewalk). There are a few different options/ methods (avoid the dry well in this case). Here's a quick youtube video addressing something similar. You'd need surface drains out in the middle of the yard that tie in as well.

Can you post a couple of pics- looking down the length of that side of the house to show the grade, maybe the entire yard on that side and your rain gutter downspouts? How far away are the downspouts from the window and are they extended away from the house either above or below ground? I really doubt the gradient sloping away from the house or how far away that extends is enough. Maybe it looked good when the builder handed off the keys but if the backfill soil isn’t compacted well along the foundation, it’ll settle pretty quickly with all the rain we’ve had this year. You mention it’s pooling elsewhere… where exactly did he fix the grade?